I feel like throwing my life away.

[hunter]

4. It's not "throwing your life away" but it could be something you'd regret.

It took me nine years to graduate from college. I'm not sure the path I took through college is even possible in today's world. I changed majors a few times, and I was "asked" to leave college twice. The only reason I got back in for a third try was on the recommendation of a prominent professor who I suspect also asked his colleagues to watch out for me and keep me on track.

When I wasn't in college I worked various jobs as a furniture mover, a handyman for restaurants and student housing, I loaded and unloaded trucks in a warehouse, and I worked as a medical lab assistant. Both the warehouse work and medical lab work were permanent positions with very good potential for promotion.

If I hadn't been accepted back to school I figure I'd have ended up in the warehouse. It paid better, it was physical work I enjoyed, and for various reasons it wasn't so boring to me as lab work. And then today I might have been an unhappy never-married single guy working as a warehouse supervisor suffering even more arthritic aches and pains and other physical ailments than I've got now. Maybe I'd have gone back to school eventually, but I've always had to be pretty damned miserable to leave a stable living situation.

But I did graduate, got a job as a science teacher, met my wife who was also a science teacher, and it's been a wild ride since.

I'm not generally a "happy" or "successful" person as defined by any conventional measure, and I'm not sure that's even possible with my particular brain chemistry, but I have enjoyed many wonderful experiences that are direct and indirect consequences of finishing college.

Your mileage may vary, but I'm certain I did the right thing by pushing through until I graduated.